It's Classified
by WindyInTheWillows
Summary: Annabeth is top in her class at a training academy for CIA spies. Her world is shaken up with the arrival of a new student, Percy Jackson—an arrogant airhead whom Annabeth loathes at first sight. Annabeth has always dreamed of going out on a mission, but when she finally gets her wish, her assignment is with Percy. And they're going undercover to a civilian high school.
1. of new students and nectarines

**_Beginning Notes: Hi Guys! This story is a revamping of something I published a way long time ago. I started with this idea almost three years ago, and didn't really ever follow through with it. I stumbled across it a few weeks ago, though, and was excited to maybe start up again. Now I'm back and (hopefully) better than ever! Now, after doing a little more planning and hopefully having gained much more writing proficiency over the past few years, I'm ready to get it up off the ground again. So, here is the first chapter, with a healthy dose of Gallagher Girls inspiration and some thoroughly google-translated Portuguese, in all its glory. Let me know what you think with a review, and enjoy!_**

Before lunch, Annabeth's day was shaping up to be pretty darn average. Well, as average as one could expect a day to be for a seventeen-year-old girl attending Long Island Academy of Arts and Sciences. She had started her morning running counter surveillance exercises in _Escape and Evasion_ class, and aced a quiz on Saudi Arabian dining customs during second period. She popped into her _Cryptography_ classroom around noon to hand in her translated copy of their most recently assigned code, and made it to the dining hall just before lunch would be served. She could never have known how unaverage her day was about to become.

The Long Island Academy of Arts and Sciences might sound like any other, run-of-the mill east coast private school; indeed, it was marketed as such. Outsiders know it to be no more than a supremely elite and highly selective boarding school. Yet, situated in a secluded bay on the Long Island Sound, the academy's high, ivy-covered walls hide much more than what meets the eye. The titular "arts and sciences" taught to the academy's students were not those of playing the cello and microbiology, but rather the art of deception and the science of codebreaking. The Long Island Academy of Arts and Sciences was, in fact, a school for spies.

So, as Annabeth sat down beside her best friend and fellow agent-in-training, Thalia Grace, she greeted her not in English, but in Portuguese—the assigned "dining hall language" of the week.

" _Você sabe o que é o almoço hoje_?" she asked, plunking her bag down on the table.

Thalia scooted over to make room for Annabeth to sit, and replied, saying that she did not know what was being served for lunch that day, and that Annabeth would do well to brush up on her Portuguese pronunciation. Annabeth stuck her tongue out in retort, and sat down. Before the two friends could even strike up a conversation, though, they were interrupted by someone calling out their names from a few tables down, completely forgoing the Portuguese assignment.

"Annabeth! Thalia! You'll never guess what just happened!"

A kid with curly hair and a rasta cap slid into a chair across from them with such energy that it screeched several feet across the hardwood floor. Sheepishly pulling himself back to the table and righting his cap on his head, Grover Underwood leaned in with an excited glint in his eyes.

"So, I was in Programming and Systems Analysis, right?" Grover had to pause to catch his breath, apparently having run all the way from the Herman building.

Programming and Systems Analysis was just the fancy, curriculum title for hacking, and it was Grover's best subject. He was a technological genius.

His breaths slowing to a more average rate, Grover went on. "Anyways, so, we were meant to be working on some passkey encryption project, but I finished that ages ago, so I was messing around with the firewalls that protect the security camera feeds. I've never gotten past them before, but today must have been my lucky day, because I usually can't even access any of the source code, but when I tried approaching from a veiled VPN-"

"I don't have the slightest idea what a VP-whatever is," Thalia said, also abandoning the assigned language, and spooning portions of the newly-arrived salad onto her plate. "Can you just get to the point?"

"Oh, right, sorry." Grover's fingers danced over the tabletops in excitement. "So, I got onto the camera feed, and you'll never guess what I saw."

"You said that, " Thalia grumbled. "If we're never going to guess, how about you just tell us then?"

Just as Grover was opening his mouth to reply, the doors of the dining hall burst open, and one hundred heads swiveled at once to face them. Mr. Chiron Brunner, head of the Academy, sat in his wheelchair in the foyer, accompanied by a tall, teenage boy whom Annabeth had never seen before. As the pair of them walked into the dining hall, flanked by Academy security, the light illuminated the boy's face.

Thalia whistled. "Dang. That is not a bad looking guy, eh Annie?"

Annabeth frowned. "He looks annoying. And don't call me Annie."

The boy was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt—decidedly _not_ the school uniform—but he didn't seem to be wearing a visitor's badge either. He ran a hand through his disheveled black hair, and his eyes roved the room, as if he was sizing up the place. For a moment, they met with Annabeth's, but she immediately realized she must have been staring, and snapped her gaze back down to her lap.

A low hum of whispered conversations reverberated around the hall. Outsiders were never allowed within Academy walls, and he was too young to be a visitor from the agency, but he couldn't be a student. Students were admitted very rarely, and only under extremely specific circumstances. Annabeth's own admission had been under even more unusual circumstances than what was standard, but that was beside the point. It was already one month into the school year, and judging by the boy's height and his lean, muscular build, he was around her age. Even with the right qualifications, Annabeth had never heard of a student being admitted after tenth grade, and she was entering her senior year.

Annabeth saw Mr. Brunner whisper something into the boy's ear, and the boy nodded. He shook hands with the headmaster, and began to pick his way through the mess of tables and chairs in the dining hall. He passed several tables full of students, and if he noticed that everyone he passed was staring at him in silence, he didn't let on. He didn't sit down, either, despite walking by several empty seats. It took Annabeth a few seconds to realize that he was walking toward someone in particular. That someone in particular seemed to be her.

 _Oh no you don't,_ Annabeth thought to herself. Her suspicions were confirmed when the boy caught her glance again and smirked. She didn't like the way that smug played across his face, slanting his chiseled jawline and oozing the exact sort of cocky attitude she expected from him. She wasn't sure what had made her dislike him so much before even hearing him talk, but she _was_ sure.

Annabeth was broken out of her contemplation by the sound of the boy pulling a chair up next to Grover, directly across from her. The mischievous smile still plastered across his face, he dropped into it.

"You," he said, leaning across the table and looking right at Annabeth. "Were staring at me."

"I was not." Annabeth glared at him.

The boy grabbed a nectarine from her plate, took a huge bite of it and grinned. "Were too. I'm Percy, by the way. I'm new."

Annabeth pulled her plate away from Percy. "New? Really? Couldn't have guessed."

Thalia elbowed her. "Nice to meet you Percy, I'm Thalia. This is Annie, who clearly woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

"I'm Grover," Grover said, looking confused. Annabeth was pretty sure she knew why; it wasn't every day that Thalia was the one injecting politeness into the conversation, and to be honest, Annabeth wasn't sure where it came from either.

"My name isn't Annie," Annabeth said, giving Thalia a stink eye. "It's _Annabeth._ "

"Oh, so you're Annabeth?" Percy asked, leaning back in his chair.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Annabeth asked, dropping her begrudging tone, betrayed by her genuine curiosity.

"Chi–I mean, Mr. Brunner told me about you," Percy said. "We're meant to go to his office together after lunch."

Annabeth straightened. "You didn't feel the need to mention that earlier?"

"You were too busy glowering at me."

Annabeth huffed, and stabbed at her salad with a fork.

"What's up with this _salad_?" Percy asked after a moment's silence. "Don't they feed us any real substance here?"

Annabeth didn't love salad herself, but she suddenly felt the need to defend it.

"Quinoa _is_ substantial," she retorted. "Anyways, it's Meatless Monday. We're having chicken caesar wraps tomorrow."

Grover, who was munching on Thalia's leftovers, perked up at this. "Meatless mondays are the only good days for vegetarians. The rest of the days we get soggy pasta salad and bland bean burgers."

"Here's a thought," Percy replied through a mouthful of leaves, having just snagged his own bite from Thalia's plate. "Don't be a vegetarian."

Annabeth thought that was pretty rude, but Grover and Thalia both laughed, and she thought it best not to push it, if only for her friends' sake.

"Hmph. If I had known chicken caesar wraps was this school's idea of a substantial meal, I wouldn't have accepted this deal."

"Deal?"

"What deal?"

"Why are you even here?"

Thalia, Grover and Annabeth all spoke at once.

Percy grinned. "I'm a new student. Everyone has to be a new student at some point, don't they?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Not four weeks into senior year, they don't."

"Well, here I am."

"You know, everybody is going to ask you these same questions. You're going to have to fess up at some point."

Percy didn't answer, and avoided her gaze. "Everyone's leaving. We shouldn't keep Mr. Brunner waiting. "

"I still don't know what this meeting is about," Annabeth said.

"Yeah, well you'll never know if you don't get a move on. Let's go!"

He stood up, and pushed in his chair. Annabeth moved to follow, but Thalia grabbed her elbow before she could stand.

"You'll tell us everything, right?" she whispered in Annabeth's ear.

"Of course," Annabeth replied, smiling. "As soon as I get out of there."

Thalia smiled back, and let go of her elbow. Annabeth hurried to catch Percy, who already had one foot out the door.


	2. of parables and programs

Annabeth and Percy didn't speak as she led him across the marble-floored foyer. Or rather, Annabeth didn't speak to Percy. He didn't shut up.

"Why do you have suits of armor?" he asked, stopping to peer through the slits in the visor of a silver-plated knight. "Sounds awfully loud for spying."

He didn't seem to mind that Annabeth forged on ahead, without slowing or acknowledging his question. He jogged to catch up, but became immediately distracted by a pair of silver swords mounted on the wall.

"Are these real?" He reached out to touch one of their points, and immediately withdrew his hand with a wince of pain. "Yup! Definitely real."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and continued walking. She couldn't imagine how anyone with this poor of an attention span could ever be a good enough spy to warrant such late admission to the academy. In an effort to maintain some image of indifference, though, she didn't ask.

"Hey! Annie!" Percy called out, having stopped again to examine a glass case which held a twentieth century cipher machine. "What's this?"

Annabeth's annoyance at the nickname was overcome the sheer need to _explain_ which she always felt whenever she held some knowledge that others did not.

"It's an electro-mechanical stream cipher machine," she said. "Ever heard of the Enigma machines?"

Percy nodded. "Those German code machine-things, right? From World War II?"

"Yeah, well, this is Enigma's more advanced American counterpart," Annabeth replied. "They called it the _Parable._ "

"The Parable? Never heard of it.

"You've never heard of it because it was never declassified. As far as we know, no one has ever cracked the Parable's ciphers. We still use it sometimes, but it's embedded in a more modern software system nowadays. This is just the original device. It was de-"

Annabeth cut herself off, noticing that Percy was no longer listening to a word she said. His eyes had wandered away from the glass case in front of him, and were a bit glazed over, staring absently at a portrait hanging on the wall behind Annabeth's head.

"Alright, let's get a move on," she said, grabbing Percy by the arm. "We've got a meeting to get to."

* * *

"So, Ms. Chase, I'm sure you are presently wondering as to the reason for which I requested for presence here," Mr. Brunner said, looking her in the eyes from across his desk. "And also for the reason behind the sudden appearance of our new friend here, Mr. Jackson."

Annabeth nodded, but didn't reply. She had known Mr. Brunner for a long time, and usually would have already started pestering him to just get on with it already, but something about the atmosphere of his office made her hesitate. A tension hung in the air, it's pressure almost palpable, as if both Percy and Mr. Brunner knew about something that was coming, and she didn't. Anxious to know what was going on, she stayed quiet.

"As Mr. Jackson may have already explained to you," Mr. Brunner continued. "He has recently been admitted to our academy. I will spare you the details of the circumstances, but I assure you, they were worthy of bending our admission policies. I assure you, he is more than capable."

"I wouldn't have questioned it, Sir," Annabeth said, keeping her tone even.

Mr. Brunner gave her a knowing look, as if he saw straight through that response.

"This is an unusual situation," Mr. Brunner admitted. "We haven't sent students into the field since the Newark incident in 1943. But, as they say, desperate times call for desperate measures."

Annabeth took a moment to process his words. "Are you saying what I think your saying?"

Mr. Brunner's eyes stayed heavy, but he was able to crack a small smile. "Yes, Ms. Chase. It seems your dreams may come true sooner than you expected."

Annabeth could hardly believe her ears. It had been ten years since she arrived at the academy, and she liked the school—it was basically her home, after all. But ten years behind its ivy-covered walls with no more than a few short field trips each year had weighed on her. All operatives-in-training itched to get out into the field, but for Annabeth, the yearning was even stronger.

"So, I'm sure you have both heard of the recent string of homicides which have been plaguing upstate New York." Mr. Brunner's smile faded, replaced by a serious expression. "We have received recent intelligence which strongly suggests they may be connected to something much, much bigger. Possible ties have been made to money laundering, robberies, kidnappings and other homicides across the country."

Mr. Brunner paused for a moment, but neither of them said anything, even Percy. Annabeth figured he must be as in the dark as she was on this information and was equally eager to hear more.

"We haven't been able to connect it to any known criminal organizations," Mr. Brunner continued. "But word on the street in the intelligence community is that they're planning something catastrophic. Every agency on the block wants a piece of this investigation, but even with sharing intelligence, the data has too many holes for a traceable lead. Nobody even knows where to begin."

"Except us, I suppose," Percy said, leaning forward and putting his elbows on Mr. Brunner's desk.

"Right you are." Mr. Brunner nodded. "Alas, I am not the one who should be going over the details. There is car waiting by the West Gates, I won't be accompanying you. I ask you to do your best to make a good impression, please. I told Reyna you would be able to do this, so don't make a fool of all three of us."

"Reyna? Who's Reyna?" Percy asked.

Annabeth didn't know who Reyna was either, but that didn't seem too important at the moment. "Do you mean we're…is the car taking us…Langley?"

"No, child," Mr. Brunner said. "Not Langley. The CIA has a clandestine facility over in Hudson Valley. There, Reyna will explain everything. I would guess you will return to the academy to collect your things, but I may not see you again before you set off. I wish you luck, although I pray you won't need it."

"Right now? Like right now, right now?" Annabeth asked.

"It is rather short notice," Mr. Brunner said. "And for that, I apologize. We would never ask you to do this if it wasn't so direly important."

Annabeth and Percy sat in silence, trying to process everything.

"Should we get going?" Annabeth asked.

"Yes." Mr. Brunner wheeled himself around his desk to open the door for them. "One last thing: of you pass anyone on your way out, please don't tell them where you're going. This is all meant to be kept rather under the radar, if you know what I mean."

"Of course, sir," Annabeth replied.

"Not even Ms. Grace or Mr. Underwood," he said, a knowing look in his eyes. "This is a crucial matter of national security, understand?"

"Yes sir," Annabeth said, smiling a little. He knew her too well. "Let's go, Percy."

The bell tower chimed ten o'clock just as they were heading into the foyer, which meant classes had just ended. Students flooded out of the classrooms and into the halls.

They were almost to the stairwell leading down to the West Gates when a voice called out from behind them. "There you guys are!"

Annabeth groaned, and turned to see Thalia pushing upstream through the crowd of students.

"I did not want to have to do this," Annabeth muttered. "What should I say?"

Before Percy could reply, Thalia reached them. "I was beginning to think you'd been kicked out, Annie!"

Percy gave Annabeth a significant look.

"Um, Thalia?" Annabeth looked at her friend with a sad expression. "I know you're joking, but…"

"What?" Thalia nearly dropped her bag. "Are you messing with me right now?"

Annabeth didn't reply, but apparently her expression got the message across.

"No freaking way, Annabeth. You're the best trainee in the class, and…and you've never done anything that could get you expelled. I'm going to Mr. Brunner right now to know some sense into that old–"

Annabeth grabbed her friend's arm before she could march back down the hall. "Thalia, no. I appreciate it, but it's a done deal."

"What happened?"

Annabeth bit her lip. "I…I can't say."

Thalia's eyes narrowed, and she turned to Percy. "This is your fault, isn't it?"

She approached him, a threatening look in her eyes. "You, know Jackson, I thought you were pretty cool. I guess even I have to be wrong about people sometimes."

Percy backed up, looking nervous. Annabeth knew why; she had been on the receiving end of that stare a few times.

Annabeth was all for letting Thalia have at him, but she knew they needed to get to the car. "Thalia, it has nothing to do with him."

Thalia was nose to nose with Percy now. "I swear, if I find out you had any part in this, you will wish you were never born. And I will find out."

For a moment, Annabeth wasn't sure what Percy was going to do. Then he broke out into a grin.

"Sounds like a plan," he said. "I'll call you if I hear anything."

Thalia huffed. "Annabeth, I have to get to class. Come find me before you leave, though. Promise?"

Annabeth grimaced. "I'll try my best. Thals."

To her surprise, she found herself blinking back tears. She hated to leave Thalia like this—with the arguing, and the lies. They had been best friends since their first days at the academy, and what if this mission, or whatever it was, was dangerous? What if she never saw Thalia again?

Annabeth pushed these thoughts aside. She needed to compartmentalize—whenever this whole thing was sorted, she could deal with Thalia. She had orders from Mr. Brunner, and she needed to follow through.

"Come on Percy," she said, her voice cracking a bit. She hoped no one heard. "Let's go."

* * *

Percy and Annabeth spent the several hours' drive in silence. They passed through the city, into the suburbs, and then drove on into what seemed like the middle of nowhere. Finally, the building appeared in the distance. As they grew closer, Annabeth saw what looked like a high tech manufacturing plant. It was huge, and all white, with lots of blue-tinted windows and surrounded by an incredible amount of security. Several gates and guardhouses separated them from the building, and cameras swiveled from the corner of every wall, and Annabeth guessed that was just a sliver of what was protecting this place.

"This seems...conspicuous," Annabeth mused.

Percy stared out the window. "Agreed. How is this clandestine?"

As the car neared the first set of wrought-iron gates, Annabeth could make out a few giant blue words across the top of the building. _Boehman Manufacturing._ So maybe it looked so much like a manufacturing plant because it was supposed to be a manufacturing plant. That made sense.

Percy seemed to have noticed the same thing. "What is Boehman?"

"Never heard of it," Annabeth replied. "Maybe it's made up."

"Hm. Maybe."

They were driven by the agency vehicle through several security checkpoints, and then around the building to be dropped off at what appeared to be a service entrance. Maintenance workers were unloading boxes from a truck onto carts, which were being pushed up a ramp to a door which was held open by a cinder block. Standing at the base of the ramp was a woman who looked quite out of place among the bustle coverall-clad workers. She was tall, and her neatly pressed slacks and crisp white blouse were effortlessly stylish. Her long dark hair fell over her shoulder in a thick braid, and her brown eyes were intense. She looked, at the same time, the picture of beauty and elegance, and like she could kick anyone's butt at any given time.

As they approached, she held out her hand. "You're Chase and Jackson?"

Annabeth nodded, taking the woman's hand to shake it.

"Nice to meet you both," she said. "I'm Reyna, head of the Jupiter Program, and your new handler."

"Oh, so you're Reyna! Mr. Brunner told us about you," Percy said. "Why couldn't we go through the front door?"

Annabeth winced, expecting Reyna to get angry with him for asking such a direct and poorly timed question. Reyna just smiled, though.

"Yes, I am Reyna. And, as for the…secrecy, I'm sure Mr. Brunner made clear the nature of this operation?"

"He didn't make clear much of anything," Annabeth grumbled.

"Ah, I see," Reyna said, leading the way up the ramp. "Well, as you'll find out, this operation is sensitive, to say the least. We can't have you guys parading through the main building without risking questions."

The walkway wasn't solid, but rather a sort steel grate, with large holes in between the strips of metal. Reyna wore spiky stilettos that could have easily slipped through the gaps, but she seemed thoroughly unfazed. Annabeth was impressed.

"If you'll follow me," Reyna said. "I'll take you to my office. Do your best to look inconspicuous."

Annabeth was suddenly very conscious of the fact that she was wearing the Academy uniform. Percy was in jeans, which didn't quite match the corporate dress code either, but it wasn't quite so obvious as a plaid skirt and a blazer emblazoned with the Academy crest.

Reyna seemed to notice Annabeth's concern. "Don't worry, we probably won't see anyone."

Annabeth slipped the blazer off and folded it over her arm, just in case.

They trailed behind Reyna through the storage warehouse and into a linoleum-floored hallway. They followed a maze of corridors and climbed several flights of stairs before finally slipping into an elevator. Reyna pushed the button for floor twelve, and the doors slid shut. The elevator came to a stop at floor eight. Annabeth held her breath, and watched Reyna, wondering if this was going to be a problem. Reyna didn't look worried, but she was staring intently at the doors.

They slid open slowly to reveal a tall man wearing a dark blue suit, with stiffly-gelled hair and a strong build. He looked like he meant business. He moved to walk on to the elevator, but as soon as he caught a glimpse of its occupants, he turned around and walked in the opposite direction. The doors slid shut again.

"Um…what was that about?" Percy asked.

"That was the DCS," Reyna said. "Thor Fulger."

"DCS," Percy replied. "I have no idea what that means."

"Director of Clandestine Services," Annabeth said. "He's basically in charge of the CIA. What is he doing in New York?"

"This is one of our most important facilities," Reyna said. "Second only to Langley. He spends almost as much time up here as he does down in D.C."

Percy still looked confused. "Hold on. So, if we're not supposed to be here, why did he see us and just walk away like that?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. She thought it was pretty obvious.

"We're not supposed to be here, officially," she guessed, looking at Reyna for confirmation.

She nodded. "Fulger knows about this operation, he just can't officially sanction it. He doesn't love the idea, to be honest, but he trusts me enough to give us a chance. But as far as records go? He has no idea what's going on."

Percy folded his arms. "Give us a chance at what, exactly?"

Before Reyna could answer, the elevator dinged. The doors opened on what seemed to be a room that filled the entire floor. The far wall was entirely windows, and the floor was covered in desks and glass dividers. Screens covered the wall to their right, and to their left was an elevated platform, boxed in with tinted glass. Annabeth figured that would be Reyna's office.

"Welcome to my department," Reyna said. "The Jupiter Program."

Annabeth ran her hand along a mahogany tabletop. "I've never heard of the Jupiter Program."

Reyna grinned. "Good. We try to keep it that way. We're a clandestine enforcement division of the Domestic Intelligence Division."

Percy picked up a pen from a desk and started tapping it against his thigh. "Why is it called the Jupiter Program?"

"That's a fascinating story," Reyna said. Percy and Annabeth waited for her do go on, but she didn't elaborate.

"Where did everyone go?" Percy asked, picking up a half empty cup of coffee from a desk.

Annabeth looked around and saw that all of the desks were covered with papers, coats were draped over chairs, and laptop screens were awake. But there wasn't a soul in sight.

"I told everyone we were cleaning the carpets at one, and they should all head home early for the day," Reyna said. "The less people who know about this, the better. Come into my office; we should get started."

* * *

 **Alright guys! Another chapter in the books! The next one should start to get a little more exciting, so stay tuned! I hope you enjoyed, and please leave a review if you have any comments or questions!**

 **As always, feedback is welcomed. Thanks for reading!**


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